Explanation follows regarding a related bill accumulation device, with reference to FIG. 11, a front view illustrating relevant portions of a configuration of a bill accumulation device in a related example, FIG. 12, a side view illustrating relevant portions of a configuration of a bill accumulation device in a related example, and FIG. 13 a plan view of relevant portions of a configuration of a bill accumulation device in a related example.
A bill accumulation device 200 in FIG. 11, FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 is generally configured with disposed components including a feed roller 101, a reverse roller 102, a picker roller 103, a stage 104, an impeller 105, bill stoppers 106, a reverse guide 107, front guides 108, a picker arm 109, a drive belt 110, a picker shaft 111, a run sensor 112, a top face sensor 113, a conveying path 115 and an external wall 117. The authentication section 116 is disposed on a conveying path 115 (the port for taking in and discharging banknotes using the feed roller 101 and the reverse roller 102 is referred to below as the “gate”).
The feed roller 101 and the reverse roller 102 are disposed with a slight overlap between their respective peripheral faces, and together function as a banknote intake port when banknotes are being separated and function as a banknote discharge port when banknotes are being stacked.
The feed roller 101 is rotatable by a drive transmission system, not shown in the drawings, in both the clockwise direction and the anti-clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 11, and in order to ensure that two or more banknotes are not fed out at the same time during banknote separation the reverse roller 102 is only rotatable by a drive transmission system, not shown in the drawings, in the clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 11.
The picker roller 103 is disposed so as to face the stage 104 on the banknote accumulation space side when viewed from the gate, and is supported by the picker arm 109 and the picker shaft 111 so as to move up or down about the feed roller 101, and a high friction member is attached to a portion of the peripheral face of the picker roller 103. Configuration is made such that drive from the feed roller 101 is transmitted by a drive belt 110 to the picker roller 103 so as to rotate the picker roller 103 in synchronization with the feed roller 101.
The stage 104 is configured capable of moving up or down by a drive transmission system, not shown in the drawings, so as to nip banknotes 114 between the stage 104 and the picker roller 103 when separation is being performed to generate an appropriate amount of feeding force, and during stacking, under constant monitoring by the top face sensor 113, so as to change position so as to secure a constant accumulation space.
The impellers 105 are of a construction including radial shaped projection portions formed from a high friction member of a resilient material, as shown in FIG. 11, with plural of the impellers 105 disposed in a row at the sides of the reverse roller 102. During stacking, the impellers 105 are rotated in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 11 by a power transmission system, not shown in the drawings, with the rotation axis of the impellers 105 positioned substantially coaxially to the rotation axis of the reverse roller 102, and during separation, the impellers 105 are retracted by a retraction mechanism, not shown in the drawings, such that the projection portions of the impellers 105 are in a position that does not overlap with either the gate section or the stacking area.
Plural bill stoppers 106 are disposed in a row on the front guide 8 at positions facing the gate, disposed such that the leading edges of the banknotes 114 discharged during stacking impact the bill stoppers 106. Springs, not shown in the drawings, are connected to the bill stoppers 106, such that kinetic energy of discharged banknotes during stacking can be absorbed when the leading edge of the discharged banknotes 114 impact the bill stoppers 106.
The bill stoppers 106 have V-shaped grooves in the face impacted by the banknotes 114, as shown in FIG. 14A, thereby preventing the end faces of the impacted banknotes 114 from sliding up or down and preventing the banknotes 114 from being curled over.
The reverse guide 107 is disposed so as to cover the reverse roller 102, such that the reverse roller 102 projects out through a hole therein, not shown in the drawings.
The front guide 108 is disposed so as to face the reverse guide 107 at both sides in the banknote length direction, configuring a stacking space, and forming a banknote accumulation space that is slightly larger than the banknote 114 in the banknote length direction.
The front guide 108 is attached to the external wall 117 configuring the outer shape of the separation and stacking section. The banknotes 114 carried in from the conveying path 115 pass across the run sensor 112 and are discharged from the gate port into the banknote accumulation space. Conveying of a banknote 114 is ascertained by the banknote 114 passing across the run sensor 112.
Stacking of the banknotes 114 is accomplished by the banknote 114 that has passed through the conveying path 115 then passing through between the feed roller 101 that is rotating in the anticlockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 11 and the reverse roller 102 that is rotating in the clockwise direction, and the leading edge of the banknote then hits the bill stoppers 106 and the rear edge of the banknote is tapped down by the clockwise rotating impellers 105, so as to be stacked on the stage 104.
Due to being placed on the conveying path 115, the authentication section 116 collects running data such as denomination discrimination, authenticity discrimination, and angle of the banknote (skew) for each of the banknotes 114 travelling through the conveying path 115, and performs other checks, such as determining the running state of the banknote.
Separating the banknotes 114 is performed by pressing the banknotes 114 stacked on the stage 104 against the picker roller 103 by raising the stage 104, and feeding the banknote 114 that has been pressed against the picker roller 103 out into the conveying path 115 with the picker roller 103 and the feed roller 101 rotating in the clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 11.
The banknotes 114 are moved while sliding against the bill stoppers 106 when the banknotes 114 stacked on the stage 104 are being pressed against the picker roller 103. The banknotes 114 are able to move without getting stuck in the grooves of the bill stoppers 106 due to the bill stoppers 106 being hidden in the face of the front guide 108 by compression of springs, not shown in the drawings, that press against the bill stoppers 106, as shown in FIG. 14B.
Such a bill accumulation device is configured capable of stacking banknotes with the banknote end faces making contact with the bill stoppers 106 without the corners of the banknotes hitting the external wall 17, even when banknotes for stacking are skewed (angled), due to sufficient separation distance being provided between the front guide 108 and the external wall 117, as shown in FIG. 15.
In such bill accumulation devices, in order to prevent banknote stacking problems there are also devices in which plural projection portions are provided to the banknote impact faces of both the left and right bill stoppers (see for example Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2009-73641 (paragraph [0014] to paragraph [0016], FIG. 1 and FIG. 2)).